MODIS Terra: Global Sea Surface Temperature 8-Day Composites at 9km Resolution

Global skin sea surface temperature (SST) data from NASA's MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite. The dataset includes daytime and nighttime observations at 9.26 km spatial resolution, processed into 8-day, monthly, and annual averages using a modified nonlinear SST algorithm. NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group generates the data, with algorithm development led by researchers at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Use Cases

• Modeling global ocean heat flux based on skin sea surface temperature measurements.
• Analyzing diurnal temperature variation patterns using separate day and night SST products.
• Studying long-term sea surface temperature trends from the consistent 8-day composite time series.
• Comparing SST retrieval algorithms using the dual-product data (standard SST and SST4 at night).

Strengths

• Data is sourced from NASA's MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, launched in 1999, providing a long-term record.
• Includes two distinct SST products: a standard skin SST and a lower-uncertainty SST4 product for nighttime observations.
• Offers multiple temporal aggregations: daily, 8-day, monthly, and annual averages at consistent 9.26 km resolution.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the MODIS instrument, binned and mapped into an integerized sinusoidal area grid and equidistant cylindrical projection.

Time Range

Data collection began after the Terra satellite launch on December 18, 1999; specific temporal coverage of this version is not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:54:46.895436; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global